


Waiting for Dr. Ramsey

by liaromancewriter



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 23:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30012489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liaromancewriter/pseuds/liaromancewriter
Summary: What if Ethan Ramsey and MC decided to pursue a relationship at the end of book 1, be together without jeopardizing her professional development? Ethan tries to stay away from Cassie Valentine and focus on the patients, but he realizes that it’s a losing battle. She’s not giving up on them and he can’t keep fighting his feelings either. Pairing: Ethan Ramsey and Cassie Valentine, Open Heart.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	Waiting for Dr. Ramsey

  


It had been a week since the ethics hearing and six nights without Ethan in her bed. Cassie was miserable without him. She tried to tell herself she would get over him; she just had to try harder. But every time she saw him in the halls of Edenbrook, she felt her heart rate accelerate and her body flush as memories washed over her. 

“We’ll get through this. It’s the patients that matter, right?” She remembered his words and the pained expression on his face after Naveen had announced Ethan would be her direct supervisor. 

In a couple of months, she’d be living her dream as a member of Edenbrook’s famed Diagnostics team, working directly with her medical hero to solve medicine’s most perplexing mysteries. Knowing that Ethan would help her become the doctor that she’d always wanted to be should have been enough. It was after all why she’d come to Edenbrook – to learn from the Ethan Ramsey.

But that was before she’d come to know the real Ethan Jonah Ramsey. Before she’d spent almost a year on slow burn, and then two amazing nights losing herself in him as their bodies connected in the most intimate way possible. They had stared into each other’s eyes as the pleasure built; his blue eyes dark as he reached the edge and she’d felt every pulse, twitch inside her as they both fell from the peak. At that moment, she’d never felt closer to another human being.

She had been avoiding Donahue’s all week and knew she couldn’t keep making excuses to her friends. The nights were the worst though. When she lay in her bed, she remembered their last night together, looking into each other’s eyes as they drifted to sleep. And waking up in his arms at dawn, enjoying the quiet but sad in the knowledge it was the last time. In a few hours, he would go back to being an attending and she an intern. His morals wouldn’t allow anything more. She’d known that but had wanted one last night with him.

She remembered telling him in the lab after Miami that they were inevitable. Something had started between them from that first thoracotomy, at least on her end. Now she couldn’t imagine a life without him in it. 

She was in love with Ethan Ramsey and would always be in love with him.

It was late and Cassie couldn’t sleep. Today’s shift had been particularly hard. After avoiding her for days, Ethan had led rounds this morning and she’d felt her old self surfacing as they parried back and forth on the patient’s treatment. He challenged her in ways no one else could. She knew that wouldn’t change if they were together. Why couldn’t he?

Cassie stared at his profile picture on her phone, that familiar smirk staring back at her. She clicked on the message icon before she could stop herself.

\-------------------------

Ethan was nervous as he waited for Cassie at their table at Derry’s Roasters. It had become their spot since the first time she’d accompanied him for coffee many months ago. Since then, they’d made it a point to meet here when they were working on Naveen’s case. Free from prying eyes and ears, they could openly talk about Naveen and, if Ethan was honest with himself, the distance between attending and intern didn’t seem unsurmountable away from the hospital.

He’d ordered a Romano for her and a Vienna for himself. From his vantage point, he saw her crossing the street when the walk sign came on, the sunlight catching her blonde hair. He remembered running his fingers through her hair that last morning together in her bed, watching the morning sun turn it golden and feeling its softness as her head lay on his chest. 

His eyes traced her as she walked through the door and towards him, taking off her light spring coat before taking the seat across from him.

“It’s so good to see you,” Cassie sighed as she inhaled the smell of her espresso. 

“You’re talking to the coffee, aren’t you?” Ethan smirked remembering from their trip to Miami that she wasn’t a morning person, especially not before her first cup of coffee.

“No comment.” Cassie smiled over the cup, appreciating the caffeine kickstart her system and the sight of Ethan in her favorite look for him ─ black bomber jacket over a blue shirt, dark tie loosened and slacks that made his legs look even longer.

They enjoyed their coffee in silence, comfortable in each other’s company and content to let the moment linger before reality intruded. 

“Cassie…” Ethan was the one to break the silence. He had to. Things were not as they were. Too much had happened between them.

“Ethan, please,” she pleaded, putting her cup down before it fell from her trembling hands. “Don’t say it.”

“We have to be reasonable.”

“Why?”

“Because your career is too important. It’s why you came to Edenbrook, remember?”

“I came to learn from you!” she exclaimed. “I believe we can be together and still do that. Don’t you believe in us?”

“It isn’t about what I believe. I need to push you and I can’t do that if I…” He stopped. He loved her. He loved Cassie Valentine and he’d almost blurted it out. He knew if he said the words, there would be no going back; she wouldn’t accept him pushing her away.

“If you what?” Cassie asked.

He shook his head and turned away, not trusting himself when she looked so appealing.

“Ethan…,” she waited until he faced her again. “I love you.”

“Cassie, I…”

“I don’t expect you to say it back. I don’t,” she said quickly when he opened his mouth to speak. “But I want you to know how I feel because I’m not giving up on us. If I have to wait two more years for my residency to end and we can be together, I will. Just tell me it’s not hopeless.”

Ethan knew he shouldn’t give her hope. In two months, he would be her direct supervisor and a relationship was impossible. It wasn’t against the rules, but it was frowned upon. No matter what her achievements, they would forever be tarnished by those that thought she’d slept her way to the top. But he’d been miserable without here these last few days. 

He missed her; not just in his bed but talking to her as they completed charts near the nurses’ station or discussing a tough case in his office. They both shared a love of medicine, but it wasn’t the only thing they enjoyed. They both liked the opera and debating current affairs. He also often joined her for an evening run after shift, something he’d learned she did every day. She’d run track in high school and throughout university, so it had become habit. He had thought about inviting her to the hospital gym but had chickened out not trusting himself alone with her in a confined space.

“Ethan?” Cassie’s voice broke through his thoughts. She looked anxious, her fingers crossing and uncrossing, belying her nerves.

“It’s not hopeless.” His voice was soft, but she heard him anyway. A small smile broke across her face. “But I want us to be realistic, Cassie. I can’t let gossip overshadow you career. If we go through with this, people will talk, and they won’t be kind.”

“Ethan, I’ve been defying expectations for years. If that’s your only objection, I can’t let myself care. I know that my accomplishments are my own and so do my friends and the people that matter to me.”

Ethan sighed as he felt his resolve crumbling. She had that effect on him. He’d been determined to make her see reason when he’d proposed meeting up this morning. He was older and knew full well the obstacles even if she didn’t want to acknowledge them. But he wanted her more than he’d wanted anything else in his life. There had been something between them from the start and he was tired of holding back. 

Were they inevitable? He was starting to almost believe that.  
  
“Let’s go. We’re going to be late for shift.” 

They walked the few blocks to Edenbrook, not speaking but enjoying being in each other’s company. Her hand brushed his twice before he took the hint. They shared a small smile as he clasped her hand in his, loosely interlocking their fingers.

“Meet me in Naveen’s office after morning rounds,” he said as the hospital came into view. He held her hand for a minute longer, hating to let her go but knowing he had to. They split up as they got closer to the hospital, her going through the staff entrance to the side and him taking the main one.

\-------------------------

A few hours later, Cassie was pacing outside Naveen’s office. The elevator opened and Ethan came into view. Her heart lifted as it always did when she saw him. 

“I was worried you wouldn’t come.”

“Sorry. Interns,” he said, frustration leaking through. 

Cassie giggled. “You do know that I’m still one of them, right?” 

“Only for another few weeks.”

Ethan knocked on Naveen’s door and waited until he heard him telling them to come on.

“Ah, my mentee and grand-mentee,” Naveen smiled as he got up from behind the desk. “To what do I owe…”

He stopped when he saw Ethan hold Cassie’s hand once the door closed behind them. “I see.”

“We have something to tell you,” started Ethan. “Cassie and I, we…we started a relationship after I left Edenbrook.” Ethan smiled down at her as he said the words.

Naveen leaned on his walking stick as he continued smiling at them. “I had assumed so when you came together to my cabin for the phage therapy.”

“What? How?” Cassie watched Ethan’s jaw drop. They’d been so careful, but clearly Naveen’s reputation as the best diagnostician in the state was worth every penny. 

“If I’m honest, old friend, I knew something had happened after you came back from Miami. But you were so determined to keep things close to your vest.”

“Yes, well,” Ethan’s face flushed, slightly embarrassed before he cleared his thought. “Cassie’s earned her place as a junior fellow on the Diagnostics team, but I can’t be her direct supervisor.”

“Do you think you can’t be objective, despite your relationship?”

“No, you know I can compartmentalize with the best of them,” Ethan waved away Naveen’s concern. “But others will talk.”

“Cassie, what do you think? Is Ethan overthinking things?”

“Of course, Dr. Bannerji,” Cassie couldn’t help but smile at Naveen’s perceptiveness. He knew Ethan better than anyone. “I sometimes think it’s his superpower and his kryptonite.” She couldn’t help but tease Ethan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“But I want Ethan to be comfortable with this, so I’m happy to go along with what he wants.”

Naveen watched them both, his eyes astute as he took in Ethan’s neutral expression and Cassie’s open one. 

“Very well, Ethan. I’ll be Cassie’s direct supervisor, but you will continue to oversee her work on the Diagnostics team. That’s my best offer, old friend.”

Cassie watched Ethan consider Naveen’s offer. She could tell he wanted to object; she squeezed his hand gently sending a silent message. He glanced down at her, his eyes softening when he saw she was getting anxious.

“Alright, Naveen. I accept. But I want HR to be informed. I don’t want anything coming back to bite us later.”

“I agree, Ethan. I’ll let them to know to expect you and that we’ve spoken.”

\-------------------------

Later that night, they were in his apartment, relaxing after a fairly long shift. The meeting with HR had taken longer than expected, even with Naveen’s blessing. But in the end, they had made note of it in their files and provided guidelines from the employee code of conduct. After that, Cassie left to see to her case load and Ethan had a new patient for the Diagnostics team waiting for him. 

Ethan knew they still had to talk. The official stuff had been taken care of, but they still need to discuss how they’d manage it inside the hospital, and outside. But that was something for after shift.

He poured Cassie the red wine she likes and carried it over to the couch. She shifted to make space for him, waiting until he sat down before resting her head on his chest. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, his arm wrapped around her until she’s snug against him.

“Thank you, Ethan.” She grazed her lips against his before taking a sip of her wine.

“For what?” He savored the scotch, feeling the tension from the day dissolving as he inhaled her unique scent.

“For believing in us.”

“Cassie, I don’t want you think it’ll be easy. I know Naveen and HR know, but people will still talk.”

“Let them. We know what’s true, don’t we?”

“Hmm.” He sets the empty tumbler down on the coffee table. He takes her free hand in his, entwining their fingers. “I still need to be able to push you, for your growth and development as a doctor. And I don’t want you subject to gossip…” he stops thinking about how gossip flows through the hospital. “Well, as much as we can avoid it. So, when we’re in the hospital, we’re nothing but colleagues.”

“You mean no making eyes at each other over the nurses’ station? No sneaky hand-holding in the corridors?” Cassie grins up at him.

“In what world would that be happening anyway?” He asks, his mouth gaping at something so alien to his personality.

“Then I’ll just have to enjoy the moments when no one’s there to see us.” Cassie pulled his head down, kissing him softly, her hands locking behind his neck as he deepens the kiss, following her down until she was stretched out beneath him. 

“I thought you wanted to talk,” she asked when they stopped to catch a breath.

“Later.” He nipped tiny kisses along her jaw, burying his lips against the sensitive spot behind her ear. “We’ve got all night.”

Cassie’s laughter echoed in the air as Ethan proceeded to drive her out of her mind. She was in the arms of the man she loved, the one who believed in her and pushed her to be everything she wanted to be. Life was suddenly very good. 


End file.
